One for my Baby and one for the Road
by KMP61
Summary: The Doctor meets a bi-polar girl outside her clinic and after some "therapy" with the Doctor, they have a little adventure and then a torch song for the finale (Capt. Harkness not included) .


She wasn't sure if this was what she was meant to do. At the moment, though, it felt like she had lived her whole life, maybe even more, for just this moment in time.

She timidly stepped to the back of the curtain. Drawing in and releasing on deep breath, she drew the curtain back and looked out at the spotlight shining on the stage. It was there just for her….

Several days before (or was it months, she wondered), she had met him at the rehabilitation clinic, just outside the city.

"Hello," she had greeted him meekly. "Are you the doctor?"

The mellifluous voice that answered had a bit of what sounded like a Scotsman's brogue. " Ýes, indeed, Miss, I am the Doctor."

"Am I supposed to see you for my medications or my therapy sessions?"

His left eyebrow shoot up quizzically. "Pardon me?"

"You said you are the doctor. Are you _my_ doctor? I'm Annie Pearl."

"Miz Pearl, I'm so very sorry. I was not aware I was near a medical facility."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I just assumed… And I shouldn't have. I.. I don't have an appointment with a specific doctor so I just automatically assumed that you were my doctor and I tend to think the world revolves around me and that's more or less why I'm here anyway. And you know what they say about people who assume… " She stopped to take a breath and realized she had been rattling on to a complete stranger, no matter how nice he appeared to be. "Make an ass of u and me, " she finished in a small voice.

"Quite a mouthful, Miss Annie Pearl, said the Scot. "Are you ill?"

"No, sir," she said, starting to draw into her shoulders. "I'm here for psychotherapy."

"Because you talk faster than the average human?"

"Oh, I don't think that's the only reason…" She bit her lower lip before she launched into a summary of her life.

"Well, it certainly is not a good one."

"I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"No bother at all. Are you free for a cuppa tea?"

"Tea? Oh yeah, you're British. But you sound more like a Scot." She stopped and to another deep breath, clenching her teeth, so as not to blurt out anything more embarrassing.

"I've been many things, British, Scottish, Irish, Gallifreyan most of all…" He practically sighed as he said the last.

"You're not from the UK?" Annie questioned, then regretted, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be nosy…"

"You mean curious, don't you? And no, I'm not from anywhere around here," he replied, waving his arms around , as if to indicate the entire world. "I have tended to have many British friends, and faces, though." With the last phrase, he touched his cheek, as if it were someone else's.

"Can I ask where you're from? I love your accent!" Annie exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

"If you say 'I'm sorry!' one more bloody time," the man proclaimed, "I am going to .. to…" He reached into his pocket and drew out what looked like a pen and a banana. "Give you a sonic banana!"

"A sonic banana?" Annie looked at the banana, the pen, and the man and began to giggle uncontrollably until tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Well, I see I still have a way with women," the man said with a broad grin.

"A s…son…. Ic… ban...nana?" Annie gasped out, still giggling , and barely able to breathe.

"Sweeter on the inside, " he replied, smiling, as if there were more of sas joke to the fact of the fruit's sweetness.

"OK, I'll bite," Annie said , with one more giggle. "What are you talking about – and where are you going, offering me a banana and a 'cuppa tea'?"

"Are you truly interested, Annie Pearl?"

"I'd really like to know why you're here and why you'd talk to me nicely when nobody who isn't paid to will!" Annie said, then shrugged to one side as if she had insulted him, instead of herself.

"I have a box – a large blue box that's even bigger than it seems. I am a Time Lord, the last of them, and I got through space and time in it. I help humans, since they seem to be the most in need of my kind of assistance. I have traveled for many eons, with companions from this solar system – and others. I am known as the Doctor."

Annie suppressed a snort as she said, "Doctor who? A Time Lord? Traveling through the universe in a big box – and you are stopping to talk to _me_? You are as crazy as I am!"

He took her hand and led her toward a blue box that looked exactly like a British police box of the 1960s. He unlocked and opened the door and gestured for her to enter. She stepped through the door and her mouth dropped open.

"It's smaller on the…"

"The outside. I know – people usually notice that it's bigger on the inside. Same logic applies, I suppose."

"Is that why you made the joke about that banana?" Annie asked as she looked all around at the books, the chalk boards, and the roundels on the walls.

"I do tend to play around with the English language."

"Do you know aliens and… Oh, wait, - are you an alien?"

" Miss Pearl, I have two hearts and have lived over one thousand of your years, so, yes, in your terms, I _am_ an alien. But to me and other species in the universe, you humans are alien- put together so inefficiently that it proves there is no…"

"Stop right there. Put together inefficiently? What do you mean by that?"

"Your bodies are alien to most planets. You cannot survive without help, ergo, you are alien since your form cannot exist on its planet of origin."

"Yeah, I guess you're right on that. Somebody once said that there couldn't be intelligent design involved in making the human body, because what intelligent designer would put a pleasure center next to a sewage disposal." Annie giggled as she related that to the Doctor. "I'm sorry. That was gross."

"But true. Does seem like a rather odd design, seeing as how primates tend to one of the few Earth species…"

"That's enough. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"So… Are you up for the cuppa?"

"You have a kitchen?"

"You sound skeptical. Why would you think the Tardis hasn't got a kitchen?"

"Well…"

"Up that hallway," the Doctor said pointing to the left, as he touched a screen on the column with his right hand." And to your right."

Annie went up the ramp, looking into different open door as she edged up the ramp way. Finally, she stopped dead in her tracks, looking to her left..

"Oh my GOD!" she screeched. "You have a nightclub in here!"

The Doctor came running. "What are you screaming about?"

"This! Why is there a stage and a nightclub in here? I never imagined a spaceship to have that!"

"This is a TARDIS, Annie, not simply a spaceship. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's also a time-travelling ship. This gal has taken me through thousands of places in millions of years."

"You said you had a lot of British friends – and faces. What did you mean by that?" Annie asked , changing the subject, as she looked in to the empty "nightclub".

"My race regenerates. I acquire a new body- and face- when a body is fatally injured, if it were truly human."

"Oh, my! But," Annie said, getting back to her earlier question, " why this?"

"When there arrives such an occasion that such a room is required, it is here. Although I do not recall it ever being here before. Somewhat of a conundrum. I wonder why need a club scene in the Tardis. I don't dance, or sing that well and it has been some time since Jack Harkness had been here…" his voice trailed off at the mention of one of his compatriots of another time and face. Then he perked up and asked Annie if she sang or danced.

"Me?" Annie giggled. "No, but I always wanted to be a torch singer when I was a kid,. I sang songs to my cat, especially when she was sick."

"A torch singer?"

"Yeah. Somebody who sings slow, sentimental, bluesy sort of songs. Yeah, I know, you can't picture me as a torch singer, can you?"

"I can imagine it. Why didn't you train to do that? I am thinking that you did not follow your dreams, as they say."

"Well, I'm not the type, I guess. And after I was diagnosed as bi-polar, I was put on medicine that made me put on a lot of weight, lowered m my voice, made me have fewer emotions, and just didn't let me be what I might have been if I weren't normal."

"What is normal?" the Doctor posited. "You might not fit a particular niche, but does anyone fit a place where society wants them?"

"Are you sure you're not a psychotherapist? You sound like lot of them that have talked to me."

"I do not think the Tardis would have brought me to this moment simply…" he broke of as the Tardis gave a small rumble. "Ah, old girl, a rumbly in the tumbly?"

He had crooned the last phrase in response to the soft rumble of the Tardis. The innate connection between he and his ship had once led him to see her as his wife, a mechanical female who could counter-balance his thoughts and actions.

He whispered to the control panel, "It isn't a whole civilization we are to rescue, is it? Is it just this one girl?"

The Tardis seemed to reply with a soft thrumming sound that carried down the hallway.

Annie looked up at the Doctor as she came back from the hallway. "Is something wrong? The box seems to be making funny noises, or is that just me? Sometimes I tend to hear things that are not there. But that's why I'm supposed to take my medications every day. And I'm becoming incoherent, aren't I? I'm…"

"Stop. No, you are not incoherent and yes, the Tardis is making noises. She is obviously trying to be _funny_…"

The rumbling beneath their feet made Annie giggle again. "It's funny how it almost answers you."

"Yes, it is a bit odd," the Doctor said as he moved a bit closer to the controls.

In a whisper, he said, "Calm down, old girl. We'll have her on a good path very soon. Just give me a little time."

He chuckled after the last and gave the control board a little pat. "And we always have a little time to spare, don't we?"

Annie walked toward the controls and asked the Doctor why he was there.

"I'm not certain yet, " he replied. "The Tardis usually takes me to where I can solve a problem. I don't think you are it, unless you happen to be singing to Daleks or Cybermen in your closet."

"No, I don't think so. At least, I hope not."

"You and me both. There may be trouble, but I'm not aware of it yet."

As if in answer, bells began ringing and the Doctor flung the doors of the Tardis open. Outside, the cathedral bells were ringing wildly, but there was nothing the Doctor could see wrong.

Annie looked past the Doctor and saw the cause of the bells clanging. What she saw was as plain as day to her, but virtually invisible to the Doctor. Little did she know that her new friend had a previous encounter with a similar creature before. It was a krafayis, a creature that resembled a huge, darkly-colored cockatoo. They usually lived and hunted in packs, usually on planets that were not at all like Earth. On rare occasions, one of them was abandoned by its pack and made its way to a planet where it might wreak havoc until it was killed, or died on its own.

"Doctor! It's an enormous black cockatoo in the tower!" Annie shouted, pointing up. His eyes followed, but he saw nothing, but noticed a vague reflection on one of the bells.

"You're close, Annie! It's a krafayis. I haven't seen one, or not seen one, since Arles in 1890. It takes a special talent to be able to see them directly. We'll speak of this later. I need to get close enough to speak to it. You must stay here…"

This was, of course, met by a resounding "Oh, no, I'm not staying here! You said **_you_** can't see it! I can, even if I don't know why. I can lead you to it! I'll stay out of the way, I promise!"

"I've heard that so many times, I can hardly keep count," he replied.

"Is it some kind of mutant bat?"Annie asked. "It's in the bell tower."

"No, no. By your brief description, it seems to be a krafayis, an alien race that tend to be scavengers," the Doctor explained as they hurried toward the cathedral. "They tend to leave the handicapped of their packs to find a spot to live the remainder of their life, sadly enough. It makes the one left behind frightened sometimes and dangerous others. They have been seen buy only a few people and killed by those who only see a monster and not a lonely, frightened creature, trying to survive without its family, so to speak."

When they got to the doors of the cathedral, they saw panicked people, rushing away.

"So I suppose we won't have to pay an entry fee, will we?" asked the Doctor, as he and Annie went against the flow to go into the building.

"Sir, sir, " said the attendant at the door, "There's some problem in the bell tower, so we're evacuating…"

The Doctor cut him off and flashed his psychic paper in front of him, "We're here to see to that!"

"Fine. Thank you," replied the attendant, who joined the rush away from the building.

"Now, if I recall my knowledge of cathedrals and this one in particular, the door to the tower should be right over there…"

They ran toward the door and could hear the krafayis banging around in the belfry.

When the Doctor opened the door, they sensed the creature stopping, just above their heads, and smelled a slightly rancid odor.

"I know you can hear me," called the Doctor up the steps. " I know you can understand me. We mean you no harm. We want to help."

"We _do_?" Annie gasped.

"Yes. Would you want someone to hurt or kill you, when you might already be suffering?"

"Oh,no. I'm sorry. I should know better…"

"I'm sure you do. Right now, you are probably scared as well. We can help, if it will let us."

A whimpering sound came down the steps, as the Doctor began to climb up them.

"Aren't you afraid?" said Annie as she scrambled to keep up.

"Everyone is afraid of something. Right now though, I'm afraid of _'__fear itself'_, as the president of the U.S. once said. Fear makes people and other creature very dangerous at times.

"Are you still there?" called the Doctor up the steps. "Are you all right? What can I do to help?"

He was answered by a series of grunting, gurgling sounds as they approached the door at the top of the steps.

"What did it say?" Annie asked, several minutes later as the sounds died down.

"She- yes, it is a female- wants me to put her out of her misery. She says the pack took her progeny and left her, after they were born. She was too weak to keep up and she landed here. I can feel her grief at her losses."

"Can't you take her to her pack? Can't you find them somewhere?"

"It would be fairly simple for the Tardis to find some krafayis pack, but we couldn't be certain they would take her in, particularly in her present condition., even if they were her packmates. They would likely turn on her and kill her as well."

"Oh, no…"

Tears slid down Annie's face.

"Oh, please don't cry. She knows what has to be done. We just have to humanely help her…"

The grunting sounds came again, a bit more softly than the last time and the Doctor nodded as he listened.

"Yes, my dear, I can do that. Are you certain you do not want me to try and find your pack and return you to them?"

The reply was a bellow unlike anything Annie had ever heard. Evidently, the creature was not in favor of being returned to a community where she was not welcome or wanted.

"Then what would you have me do?"

The growling, gurgling sounds went on for a few minutes. She mewled one last sound, then became silent, as silent as she was invisible.

"Very well. I shall find what you have asked and bring it to you soo. I just ask that you remain quiet and still until I return."

He got a small mewling sound in reply and he and Annie headed quickly back to the Tardis.

"What did she ask for?" Annie asked as they head out the door.

"A rabbit, laced with a poison to put her quickly to death. She is not only in grief, but in considerable pain from the birthing - and it was not that long ago. She has also developed an infection."

"Is that what the odor is?"

"I believe so. Sepsis – she has not long to live in any case. The infection would likely kill her sooner than later, but also cause considerable pain, which would make her a danger to the humans in the area. I have a rabbit in the refrigeration unit and poisons that she requested in my laboratory."

"You said you're a doctor. Can't you heal her?"

"Annie, in some societies, death is just another gateway to life. I'm not a doctor who can always heal, nor am I always a doctor to help one move into death's door. I can only do what is beat for this creature to protect those who might be harmed if I went against her wishes."

Annie nodded, sadly, as they stepped into the Tardis' "kitchen" and the Doctor removed a rabbit's carcass from the freezer section. They stepped a few doors down and he selected a few vials from the shelving and dosed the carcass with the contents. He then bundled up the rabbit's body and they left the Tardis and headed quickly back to the cathedral.

"What do you see, Annie?"

She looked up toward the bell tower and saw the krafayis looking out the window.

"She's at the window, looking for you, I guess. Maybe you could wave?"

He tucked the bundle under his left arm and waved a little with the other. The creature seemed to nod as she moved back from the window.

There was no one around this time, so they quietly entered and climbed the steps to the tower.

Opening the door, the odor nearly stopped Annie, but she knew she needed to stay wit the Doctor, if only to direct him toward the krafayis.

"Where is she, Annie? I don't want to go to her by scent alone."

"She's just to our right, Doctor. She looks very sad, if a birdy reptile can look sad."

He edged up to where Annie had intimated she was, unwrapped , and laid the packet containing the poisoned laced rabbit on the floor and returned to Annie's side.

"Does she notice it?"

"Yes," said Annie. "She's going to take it in probably one bite. You think that's why she asked for as rabbit? Maybe she knw it wouln't take much to swallow it. Oor thing…"

She cried quietly as she watched the karayfis tear into the rabbit. The creature looked at Annie and the Doctor and blinked, then tucked her beaked nose under neathe r what seemed to be a wing and gurgled out a few final "words".

The Doctor replied, "You're welcome. I promise if I ever find your pack, I will tell your progeny that you died bravely."

After a fw more moments, the karfayis took her last breath and Annie wiped her eyes as it curled up and sank to the floor beneath her gaze.

"I'll bring the Tardis over and, with your help, I'll take her body into a stretch of space where she can be put to rest."

"I'll wait here, " Annie replied.

Some minutes later, the Tardis appeared in the corner of the bell tower and Annie and the Doctor managed to get the body on a gurney and wheeled it through the Tardis' doors.

The whirring and clattering of the Tardis liftoff quieted Annie, as she stood near the body.

"A man of great significance in the art world once told me that there was so much more to the world than the average eye is allowed to see. There are many things that only some people see. You are one of those with that gift. I don't suppose you paint or are a sculptress?"

"Oh, no. My biggest talent is singing in the shower, imagining I'm a torch singer in a smoky café somewhere in a big city, Isn't that what we were talking about when our poor friend here started ringing the bells in the tower?"

"Here. Now we need to put her to rest. Let me open the doors…"

Annie gulped, ""In space? Won't we die from the vacuum?"

"Of course not! I have a virtual airlock that keeps us with air and gravity. We'll send her off now. Her body will drift in the vacuum and there's a slight possibility her pack may come across it one day. Goodbye, my dear, may you rest in peace."

With that, they slipped the body through the doors, into the vastness of space.

"Goodbye," whispered Annie, as the doors shut.

They looked at each other as they walked back to the control panel.

"Well, I'll take you back and head off."

"I wish I could stay," Annie said, "but I need to get home. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on. I can never tell a soul what happened here, or people will never listen to me again."

"Perhaps you can put it as fiction. People like scary stories, I know."

"I wish I could write music or even sing. I would sing a song for her…"

"Woul you like the use the room you said resembled a nightclub? You can sing some of your 'torch songs' in her honor and then I'll take you home again."

"How sad. I suppose … Well, no. Religious songs would be more appropriate, wouldn't they?"

"You mean the usual funereal songs, like Amazing Grace and the like?" As Annie looked at him in surprise, he smiled and said, "I've been around Earth long enough that I've heard much funeral music. But no, you needn't sing that or any of Earth's religious songs. As far as I could tell, no deity that I am aware of was or is worshipped by the krafayis."

"Well, I didn't want to insult you by singing a song that might not…"

"Annie, dear, just pick some songs that you have always imagined singing to a small, intimate audience."

"What audience?"

"That would be just me, although I've had twelve other faces, this is the only one I have to offer you as an audience. You may sift through the clothing in this room," he said, opening a door to what seemed like an enormous wardrobe room, " for anything you'd like to wear – there's bound to be something to fit your needs - and you."

"Thanks, " Annie said as she shut the door behind her.

The Doctor went to the room that Annie had called a "nightclub" and sat at a table with a glass of shimmering alien liquor in front of him.

Several minutes passed , then the curtain on the stage began to draw back and the spotlight illuminated the center of the stage.

"And now," said the Doctor, getting into the idea of a club (since he had been to many across the universe), "appearing for the first time on our stage, Miz Annie Pearl!"

Annie smiled broadly and stepped forward. "I'm you entertainment for tonight," she said in a broad whispery voice, "and I'm going to sing you home…."

"It's quarter to three,

There's no one in the place 'cept you and me  
So set 'em' up joe  
I got a little story I think you oughtta know

We're drinking my friend  
To the end of a brief episode  
So make it one for my baby  
And one more for the road

I know the routine  
Put another nickel in that there machine  
I'm feeling so bad  
Won't you make the music easy and sad

I could tell you a lot  
But you gotta to be true to your code  
So make it one for my baby  
And one more for the road

You'd never know it  
But buddy I'm a kind of poet  
And I've got a lot of things I want to say  
And if I'm gloomy, please listen to me  
Till it's all, all talked away

Well, that's how it goes  
And Joe, I know you're gettin' anxious to close  
So thanks for the cheer  
I hope you didn't mind  
My bending your ear

But this torch that I found  
It's gotta be drowned  
Or it soon might explode  
So make it one for my baby  
And one more for the road….."


End file.
